[HoE] RE:A Complete Review Of HoE

[Ralph Dula <rdula@ezonline.com>]

Chris Aniballi wrote:

>3. Children O' The Atom
>Story and background were acceptable.>>

In my opinion they weren't.  Specifically I was disappointed with the lack
of information on how the Doomsayers learn to use the power of the Glow.
Just saying "Rasmussen worked with Holst and learned enough about ghost
rock raditation to teach the average mutated schmoe to harness it in
amazing ways" doesn't cut it for me.  There were a lot of other things I
didn't like, but this was the second-worst fault of the book.

>Then there is Brin, what's not to
>like about Brin? I actuall am serious, the character is great, and has a lot
>to offer and a motivating NPC.>

In my opinion there's quite a lot not to like about Brin.  I hate people in
real life who use their looks to get ahead, and I sure don't cotton to
fictional characters who do it either, regardless of whose side their on.
I actually wrote up an adventure outline dealing with her death, in which
she was killed by a male Harrowed with the Frigid Hindrance (and thus twice
blessed against her looks) who was out to destroy a family of mutants, and
the posse had to hunt down her murderer.  As the adventure progressed it
was revealed that the mutant family was actually a bunch of psychopaths who
used their mutant status to convince Brin to protect them (she was,
admittedly, unaware of their evil nature), and the Harrowed was one of
their victims back for revenge.  Brin got in the way and paid the price.

But you know the worst thing about Children O' the Atom in my opinion?
Take a look at art of the book, and you'll see the vast majority of
Doomsayers in this book look perfectly normal!  Check out the cover art,
does that woman have any boils or sores or eyestalks?  No, she's looks
perfectly normal!  I'm sure you could argue that she has some easily hidden
mutation, like a stomach covered with eyeballs, or that her mutation was
that she was a man until being hit with ghost rock radiation, whereupon
s/he got an instant sex change, but still the number of normal-seeming
mutants in the illustrations is an outrage, "A Piece of Doomsayer
propaganda to make normals accept their ugly hides," as a player in my
posse said on the subject.

Sorry, just had to vent